Prides are enjoying the lion's share of success

Monday 19 May 2014

You might have heard Prides' forthcoming single, Messiah, on BBC Radio 1.

You might have heard Prides' forthcoming single, Messiah, on BBC Radio 1.

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Nicola Meighan

Perhaps you admired its anthemic synth-indie sound, and marvelled at the Glasgow trio's seeming overnight success (they've signed to Island Records, despite having only formed last year). And that's all valid, but it's only part of the story, which starts a decade back and charts their ascent through local outfits Drive By Argument, Midnight Lion and Kitty The Lion (now Blood Relatives).

"Lewis and I have our 10-year anniversary coming up in September," offers vocalist and keyboardist Stewart Brock of his lasting musical relationship with pop ally Lewis Gardiner (drums, production). "That's when we met at UWS [University of the West of Scotland] and started playing together."

So, are they going to mark their first decade together in a suitably rock 'n' roll fashion?

"Oh, we've nothing special planned - just a nice romantic meal probably," he says, with a laugh.

It was while the pair played in mid-2000s indie-rock rabble Drive By Argument (whose number included Ryan Drever, now of PAWS), that leonine intervention struck: Gardiner and Brock formed an electronic side-project, called it Midnight Lion, and instigated a cyber-frenzy that caught the ears of Island Records.

"When we first released music as Midnight Lion, we spent a long time trying to make sure the sound was right," Brock explains. "Then we put some stuff online to let people hear it, and somehow it started circulating, and getting picked up by blogs. Suddenly we were getting floods of emails."

It is heartening (and rare) in this day and age for a band to sign to a major label before they find their sound, or feet (and to be afforded the time and space to develop) but Island appear to have reaped the rewards of patience with Prides.

"Absolutely, they've been really good," nods Brock. "From the off, they've just left us to it, even when things slowed down a bit with Midnight Lion, when we hadn't really released anything in a little while."

It was then that Prides' third member, guitarist and vocalist Callum Wiseman, joined the fold. "We met Callum when we were looking for people to help out with our Midnight Lion live band, and once we started writing together, that's really when things started to click," Brock recalls.

"Our newer stuff was quite different, so it was one of those clean slate, moving forward things. We changed our name. Prides it was."

Prides' debut single, Out Of The Blue (2013), was a sunburst of electro-pop which fused Caledonian synths with the widescreen 1980s chug of Bucks Fizz's Land of Make Believe (this is intended as high praise), while this year's follow-up, The Seeds You Sow, was a titular homage to Tears For Fears, and with good reason - they cite that stellar 1980s duo, alongside Kate Bush, as influences.

Yet Prides' gleaming synth-pop is equally informed by Glasgow's electronic counter-culture, which has lately infiltrated the mainstream thanks to acts such as Hudson Mohawke, Rustie and Chvrches.

"Yeah, there's always been a really strong electronic scene bubbling under the surface in Glasgow," nods Brock. "Lewis used to work in the Sub Club, so he's got a real connection with a lot of the DJs coming through there, and I think that definitely informed some of the things that we were doing when we were trying to find our sound."

Prides also operate as a production house, remixing the likes of Giant Fang and Hector Bizerk, with whom they collaborated on last year's excellent Run & Jump (featuring Hector MC Louie Deadlife), and issuing treats like their Slow Jamz Mixtape #2, which showcased their takes on myriad pop hits, including Daft Punk's Get Lucky, Ellie Goulding's Burn and Katy Perry's Roar.

"We love doing remixes, and we want to have another string to our bow where that's concerned," says Brock. "We're really open to working with other people, and we're working towards maybe writing and producing for other bands or artists. That's actually where Midnight Lion started - it was me and Lewis working as a production team. It's funny how it's all worked out. We didn't really intend to be a band."

King Tut's, Glasgow, May 22 (headline show); Potterrow, Edinburgh, May 24 (Foxes support); Messiah is out on June 23

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